Dragon Springs Paladins
Of all the Nine, Mera is probably the kindest and most compassionate deity and she loves peace.
Mera's primary followers, the Tenders of the Sacred Hearth, or more commonly just the Tenders are a diverse lot with many different strategies and theologies in order to promote Mera's ideals.
The Pure Ones are absolute pacifists adopting an idealistic behavior based political outlook. On the opposite end of the spectrum, are the Paladins who are proactive and often very aggressive holy warriors adopting a very utilitarian political outlook.
Mera, named by Zeta Gardner
Culture
The Paladins are not bullies or sadists. Violence and cruelty brings them no joy, but they genuinely believe that their harsher actions serve the greater good.
On Earth, Napoleon Bonaparte is often given credit for coining the phrase "An iron hand in a velvet glove."
No one says this in Dragon Springs, but the attitude is there.
The Paladins tend to be very smiley and polite while walking around wearing armor and swords.
The general populace is also cheerful and pleasant, but there is frequently an unspoken atmosphere of fear hanging in the air.
Public Agenda
The Dragon Springs Paladins public agenda is to protect the people of theDragon Springs Barony from any and all threats, internal or external
It's an open secret that they are eyeballing the neighboring Border Baronies and are looking for opportunities to install new Paladin-friendly regimes in some of them.
History
The Dragon Springs Barony is noteworthy in that in has lots of geothermal activity resulting in numerous hot springs. Hence the name. Otherwise it's not that different from the other Border Baronies. (spot #3)
The Border Baronies Region is a rain and snow soaked region of rough terrain with many harsh mountains and desolate swamps. Among this terrain are several metaphorical "islands" of good arable land. Because the terrain is so rough, it's functionally impossible for a single nation to claim dominion over the entire region, so each island of arable land is an independent realm. The rulers of these realms are nicknamed Border Barons.
The Border Baronies are infamous for their lack of lengevity. Governmental coups are very common.
Often an ironfisted tyrant is overthrown by his own people and the people "never again!" and set up some form of republic. The republic starts out well but eventually gets bogged down by internal political divisions and corruption until a single leader rises to power promising stability and prosperity. But eventually that ruler becomes corrupt (or his heirs become corrupt) and the tiny monarchy turns into a realm of tyranny ruled by naked force. Then the tyrant is overthrown and replaced with some form of republic...
The Dragon Springs had an unlucky run having three violent coups in under four decades. And there was no period with a kindly Baron or people-friendly republic. One tyrant replaced another.
Two adventuring parties (one from Kantoc, one from Fumaya and lSwynfaredia) both with Paladin-aligned dogma met each other in the Borderlands and decided to join forces to install a new lasting government in Dragon Springs.
They recruited sympathetic individuals from throughout the Border Baronies and used the local connections to incite an uprising in Dragon Springs and installed a militant Mera theocracy in Dragon Springs and have held power there for a little over ten years thus far.
Paladins and Paladin sympathizers throughout the West Colassia continent have migrated to Dragon Springs to join them, and they have recruited locals from Dragon Springs who are willing to adopt their brand of Mera worship.
Map of the Border Baronies by Pendrake
by me with Midjourney
Due to local geographic conditions, Dragon Springs Barony periodicaly has to deal with incursions from goblins and various subterranean monsters. At the time when the Paladins took over, the previous Baron infamously drug his feet on mobilizing the military to protect the populace from these dangers. The Paladins were able to secure the secure the tunnels within short order and a lot of local populace supports the Paladins for this reason alone.
Demography and Population
The Dragon Springs Barony has roughly 60,000 people living in it. About 3% of the population are formally affiliated with the Paladins. A large portion of them are ordinary people who were honorarily inducted into the clergy as recognition for their piety, courage, and hard work.
Most of the populace recognizes that the Dragon Springs Paladins are not perfect, but they consider them a vast improvement over the governments they had before. The Dragon Springs Paladins don't have a lot of fans in the rest of the Border Baronies Region, but they enjoy the support of the majority of the local populace, at least for now.
Territories
While they have ambitions beyond their borders, the Dragon Springs Paladins political control and influence begins and ends at the border of Dragon Springs Barony.
It's worth nothing that Dragon Springs has several openings to Scarnoctis and a large portion of the Dragon Spring's claimed territory is underground. The local supplement their diet with brodesopp and about half the population sleeps underground where it's warmer.
by Me with Midjourney
Military
The Dragon Springs Paladins have elected three judges. The Minister of Justice handles all criminal cases. The Minister of Harmony handles all civil cases, and the Minister of Mercy is a a very powerful theurgist with advanced Healing that decides when convicted criminals may be healed.
The Minster of Mercy is the most controversial figure in Dragon Springs.
The ordinary soldiers who are not directly part of the Paladins are in general very loyal to their commanders because they know their commanders will never order them to do anything they aren't willing to do themselves, and they know the Paladins will go to great lengths to never leave a man behind.
Initially, the Dragon Springs Paladins were mostly made up of holy warriors from foreign lands. The vast majority of the Paladins recruited directly from the Dragon Springs population were recruited from the army.
Like most Border Baronies, Dragon Springs has a standing army including hundreds of full time men-at-arms and thousands of reservist militia, but the backbone of their military power is from the Dragon Springs Paladins themselves.
The Paladins in general are an association of holy warriors. For all their flaws, the Dragon Springs Paladins are not afraid to get their hands dirty and they lead from the front.
Almost all of the Dragon Springs are trained in combat, and a high proportion of them are equivalent to elite. A high percentage of them are theurgists which means that their soldiers have lots of access to magical healing and magical protection spells giving their relatively small army strength beyond what numbers alone would suggest.
by me with Midjourney
Religion
On paper, Dragon Springs allows locals to worship any and all of the Nine as they fit, provided their worship doesn't involve violence.
In practice, they keep an uncomfortably close eye on the worship practices in Dragon Springs and can be very stifling towards Greymoria, Maylar, and Nami especially.
Even more telling, 80% of the religious farmers' nineth goes to Mera temples and this is in addition to the supposed secular taxes which coincidentally also go to the Paladins. This forces clergy of other faiths to rely on voluntary donations and "Temple Cheese".
Composite Display of the Nine's portraits by Zeta Gardner
Foreign Relations
The Dragon Springs Barony is firmly in the western portion of the Border Baronies Region.
There four immediate neighbors are Mateeoreino, Tollmore, Eternity and Mallocaballo. The Paladins don't like any of them and they have at least one embedded spy in every one of these places.
The Petty Kingdom of Mateoreino was ruled by a cruel tyrant, King Mattteo, who was recently slain during an adventurer led coup that much to the chagrin of the Paladins, didn't evolve them much. It's still up in the air who is going to solidify control of the realm and the Paladins are hoping to put one of their own in charge, but the local populace is not on board with this.
The Barony of Tollmore is not overtly cruel but it has a very oppressive tax system.
The Dread Barony of Mallocaballo is functionally run like a mafia holding.
The Barony of Eternity ostensibly is kind to their (living) populace but they legalized the mass use of undead workers and soldiers and the Paladins find this morally abhorrent.
Partially by dumb luck, at the moment most of the nicer Border Barons are concentrated in the eastern half of the Border Baronies Region and most of the harsher Border Baronies are located in the western half of the region. The Dragon Springs would love to make alliances with some of the eastern powers, but the eastern powers don't particularly like or trust them.
Laws
Advanced Healing magic can cure or reverse almost any injury short of death. Branding is a very common form of punishment in Dragon Springs. Less common, but still pretty common is mutilation. Thieves lose a hand. Con artists lose a finger. Sexual criminals lose...something else. Assuming the convicted criminal demonstrates proper remorse to the Minster of Mercy, the brand or dismemberment can eventually be removed. Typically after three years.-Luvon the Satyr, holy warrior of Mera (he is NOT a fan of the Paladins)by Luis Michael'In order to be merciful, one must first become strong.' That is a proverb that many holy warriors of Mera like to say, and it is very much true. Mercy is having the strength to hurt another while having the compassion and restraint to not hurt them, even if you want to. The Dragon Springs Paladins believe they are acting with mercy, but they pervert the very word mercy. They believe that any punishment short of death is an act of mercy, because the effects of said punishment can be reversed with magical healing. But when magical healing is used as a tool of punishment, it is an insult to the Benevolent Mother."
In any land or nation, convicted criminals nearly always proclaim their innocence whether it's true or not. Why should Dragon Springs be any different?"-Daana, Defender of the Hearth (a Paladin)by Eron12 with Hero Forge"Many believe our system of law enforcement is unnecessarily harsh, but the results speak for themselves. The recitivism rate for ex-convicts is very low. Murder is rare. Theft is less common here than the rest of the Borderlands. Rapists are very rare here. Criminals know what sort of justice they will face if they try anything in or near Dragon Springs. Our detractors state that we convict people too easily and many of the people we punish were in fact innocent, but our investigators and police constables are among the best in Scarterra.
Trade & Transport
The Dragon Springs Barony is fairly self-sufficient which is good because the Dragon Springs Paladins are not very good at negotiating trade agreements with their neighbors and their harsh form of justice is causing many traveling merchants to steer clear of Dragon Springs.
The local hot springs continue to attract tourists throughout every regime change, but numbers are currently down.
Founding Date
1827
Type
Religious, Other
Capital
Training Level
Elite
Veterancy Level
Experienced
Leader
Founders
Head of State
Head of Government
Government System
Theocracy
Power Structure
Autonomous area
Economic System
Mixed economy
Currency
Legislative Body
The Dragon Springs Paladins have roughly 30 members with enough seniority rank to have voting rights. These men and women meet once a year elect the three top positions.
All three positions are held by one of the original adventurers who masterminded the initial coup to let the Paladins take over Dragon Springs and all three are fairly powerful theurgists and skilled fighters though they have adapted to more adminstrative roles.
The Voice of the Goddess is in charge of law, taxes, and storing and processing foodstuff. Currently held by Bethan of Swynfaredia.
The Shield of Goddess in charge of the army and police (which are functionally the same group). Currently held by Sierra of Kantoc
The Heart of the Goddess in charge or religious ceremony, diplomatic outreach, and alms giving. Currently held by Yosrin the gnome.
Each of them has between three and five hand-picked lieutenants, mostly gleaned from the members of the assembly who voted them into office.
In theory, the three leaders' decisions can be overturn by a vote for the assembly, but this hasn't happened once though sometimes the threat of an assembly vote will make a leader back down.
Official State Religion
Parent Organization
Deities
Location
Official Languages
Controlled Territories
Notable Members
Related Ethnicities
Comments